July 13, 2012

It's been 10 months. A lot has happened. Too much to talk about now because it's midnight and I feel like I need an extra 10 months to talk about the last 10. SO MUCH has gone on...the deployment, the holidays, my trip to Cali for the holidays, my nightmare job interview (and a few other good ones), I turned 30 (and survived), I lost some weight(!), injured my back, S's homecoming, and then I got SEVERAL job offers.

Lots to talk about in the coming days. But I am back and I am really excited because I actually have something to talk about and not just watching the sun rise and set from my bed while I eat tortilla chips and watch everything imaginable on Netflix. Real content here, people! Stay tuned!!

September 21, 2011

My sister is going to kill me for posting this but I couldn't help it. We love Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac and, as a result, the kids have taken a liking to our stellar music choices. Take a look at Zoey, my 2-year old niece. She just melts my heart...

September 20, 2011

Ten years from now, I will only have ten blog entries if I keep up the pace I'm at. There are a few reasons why my posts are months weeks apart. It's been a whirlwind kind of summer. While I have gotten sick several times this summer since moving to the Lowcountry, I will admit I've been kind of depressed. Which is probably why I was getting sick. Now that I'm on the other side of this melancholia I guess I can say it started like after 4th of July. Our things had been delivered in late June and I was feeling overwhelmed by the colossal amount of unpacking and organizing. I my soul craves order and the stability of having two feet planted firmly on the ground. Every morning the boxes were a reminder that my life was still in a huge transition. I was shutting down. Still drinking soda despite my last post (when depressed, I crave SUGAR!!!) and I was spending most of my day in bed, napping throughout the day and only getting up for meals and to straighten up so the Mr. wouldn't know that I'm a total waste of life.

Credit: Natalie Dee

I was struggling with migraines, still, and was just feeling crappy overall. Then at the end of July I was hit with a major kidney infection. I was a total and complete train wreck. I don't get sick very often but when I do, it is like crazy intense illnesses. This forced me to say goodbye to my beloved Dr. Pepper. It forced my titration to come to a dead halt. Now whenever I have back pain I'm all freaked out of fear of going through that again.

Then we got the news that the Mr. would be deploying soon. It was difficult to hear that. I mean we just began living together again after a year apart. I knew that I'd eventually hear those words but it sucked that it came so soon. Then came our trip to visit family back home in California. That was fun and awesome. We celebrated our nephew's 8th birthday, visited with friends, ate at our favorite Italian restaurant, and I got to spend some time with my two favorite kids in the whole wide world...Zackary and Zoey.

Saying goodbye to them and my sister was the hardest part of the trip. I cried harder this time than I did when I first left. My sister is the mirror image of my soul and these two kids are the left and right hands of my heart. As hard as it was to say goodbye, I found myself excited about going back home and getting back into our routine. Maybe it was because I forced myself, in the haze of my depression, to go to a few spouse outings. I met friends and it gave me some structure and filled in some of the gaps. I now have other people to talk to besides the Mr., other women who are in my shoes and get it!

I remember telling myself before that first outing, that this would be good for me. That I would never regret spending a few hours showered, dressed like a normal person, meeting normal people, doing normal things. I know myself and myself wants to sit in bed all day, not answer the phone, lost in the TV or internet. The darkness is painful but the predictability of it is comforting. It sounds totally off but anyone who isolates will understand. But I've learned to talk myself out of it and I can begin to identify when I'm making decisions out of fear and pain. I've learned those decisions are never all that good for me. So I went out and I met some really nice ladies who are fast becoming friends.

The Mr. is currently out on a TDY and will be returning in a few days. This sucks but is also helping me prepare for the deployment. Since he's been gone I've unpacked some things we had put away as Hurricane Irene was nearing us. I also painted our bedroom! It was a dull white and I need color. I admit that the green is kind of neon-looking but it was wet here. Well as I was done with the white trim, I spilled the whole bucket of white paint! This is a picture of it after it was 90% cleaned up. It was 2am and I was pissed. I had to repaint 2 walls! But if you see in the picture below, it is much lighter and really soothing-looking and more accurate.

FAIL!!

It was an interesting week in my house. As I continued along in my home improvement agenda I painted and sanded some frames I wanted to hang in the living room. This was my inspiration...

This was my end result...

Not before Cinnamon made a Lunchable out of one of my starfish while I stepped out...

Tonight I made something I can't normally make when the Mr. is home. He's not too keen on veggies and I love them! So I took advantage and made Green Chicken Enchiladas. But this time I made it completely gluten-free and with veggies!! You can use a variety of veggies but I stuck with what I had at home...broccoli, onion, frozen corn. I would have liked to add cauliflower and spinach or nopales (Spanish for cactus). Here it goes...

Gluten-free Green Chicken Enchiladas

Shredded chicken prepared to your liking.

(I boil chicken in bouillon and then shred)

Bag of tortilla chips (1)

Preferred veggies

Grated Mexican Blend cheese

Salsa Verde (3-4 jars)

Heat 1-2 jars of Salsa Verde on the stovetop.

Allow onion to sweat in some olive oil.

Add in veggies then add in remaining salsa jars.

Crush half the bag of chips into small pieces.

Lay a thin layer of warmed salsa at the bottom of a casserole dish.

Then layer chips.

Then chicken.

Then veggie/salsa mix.

Then cheese.

Then some more salsa to ensure all chips are wet.

Continue layering until you run out of space or some of your ingredients.

Finish the top with lots of cheese and dump the rest of your sauce on top.

If you run low on salsa, add in some water from your boiled chicken or add in chicken broth.

June 29, 2011

I have a migraine. I've had this same migraine for several days. It's come and gone but this morning it was raging. And I think I know the reason for it. I have become seriously dependent on Dr. Pepper. Several years ago, I kicked the habit cold turkey but this time, well this time it's different. I'm already naturally prone to migraines and the whole cold turkey thing is just absolute torture. I stuck it out for the past few days. I have been hydrating myself (dehydration is a major cause of migraines), having balanced meals, using ice packs, resting, not over-exerting myself, and the Mr. has even been massaging my neck and shoulders. I'm also trying to get my caffeine from other sources to try and trick my body into thinking it's getting the good stuff. Kind of like methadone for a soda addict. Y, nada! Nothing is working! I even get Botox ever 4-6 months to help with the problem. I promise it works. Just check it out for yourself. I used to have migraines for weeks at a time. It was terrible. It's helped a ton. My old roommate, T-dawg, has a video of me getting it a few months ago. I'll try to get it and post it here. For the record, I LOVE BOTOX! It keeps the migraines and wrinkles at bay!

Since the cold turkey thing isn't working out for me, I've decided to titrate off the juice. The Mr. is coming home with some of the good nectar. The plan: 2-3 cans a day for a week depending on how I'm feeling, then 2/day for a week, then 1/day for a week. I'm choosing to stop my soda intake not for any weight loss goals, but because I don't like how I feel when I drink too much. It actually causes my migraines to worsen, it dehydrates me, causes me to retain water, and really upsets my stomach when I have it in the evening. It's just not good...this guy gives a good explanation on the negative side-effects of soda.

June 28, 2011

Clever title, eh?! I am just exhausted beyond whatever is humanly possible and I think I used my last two braincells sometime last week. The movers finally brought our things. I have been trying to unpack and get our life together. Being the food-obsessed savvy girl I am, my kitchen was the absolute #1 thing on my list to unpack. I just wanted to produce something, anything. I haven't cooked or made something in a while and my true self was just longing to stir/blend/chop/grill something...ANYTHING! I feel much better since the kitchen is unpacked and functional. Today I am in love with my blender. That little gem is the reason for my lunch today. I made my absolute favorite protein shake.

Today, I will call her Purple Pleasure! She is delicious, filling, and refreshing. I have her whenever I want to replace a meal, this mostly happens with breakfast. Aside from love, here's what she's made of...

1/2 Banana

1/2 cup Strawberries, 1/4 cup Blueberries

Add more or less of each. Sometimes, my shake looks more pink than purple. Either way, it's still yummy for my tummy!

2 Scoops

This is my favorite protein powder so far. It's not gritty and it's just kind of everything I want. I first found it at Trader Joe's. Now I buy it at Vitamin Shoppe since there isn't a Trader Joe's where I live...BOOO!!! Read more about Aria here.

8-12 oz.

I LOVE Almond Breeze Almond Milk! The powder calls for 8 oz of fluid but I typically add more because of the frozen berries. Learn from my mistake, not adding enough fluid will cause your blender to fry and die! Also, I use either the original flavor or vanilla flavor of the almond milk. It just depends on what is open in the refrigerator.

Don't ask me what the calorie count is. I don't count calories. My concern is that I am getting good food in my body and that I am getting enough protein to sustain me. If you come up with variations of this recipe, please share with me. I'd love to try your version(s)!

Even though I'm home and FUNemployed, lunch has to be quick because I am still surrounded by this...

and this...

and this.

My life is a shit storm of cardboard boxes and packing paper. I swear, I'm just waiting for a body to show up in one of these boxes because I don't recall having this much shit. Oh and the picture above, yeah that's our "guest bedroom." There was barely enough room for me in there to take the picture. I wish we could just burn everything and start over from scratch. Shit!

In better news, the Mr. and I got out a bit this weekend and got me a new toy! Minds out of the gutter...I gots me an iPhone!